Worth Fighting For
by B-twentysix
Summary: Here I was. Sitting in a bar with a man two seats down from me. He had curly, brown hair and, from what I could tell, he was very handsome. He was reading a book and had a beer sitting in front of him. The beer was half empty. What happens when you involve yourself with a teacher at your school? Well, when you're in love, you have to do everything you can to fight for it.
1. Tossed By The Wind

Here I was. Sitting in a bar with a man two seats down from me. He had curly, brown hair and, from what I could tell, he was _very handsome. _He was reading a book and had a beer sitting in front of him. The beer was half empty.

"Can I have a cheeseburger please?" I asked the bartender. Technically, I wasn't even of age to be here. But who the hell cares. I mean, it's Rosewood! The town _known_ for secrets. Everyone is bound to have at least a couple secrets in this town. I have some. Wait, let me rephrase that, I have _lots_.

"You got it." The bartender replied. I was lost in thought as I looked around the room. Then I saw it. That poster. The first picture I had seen of here for one whole year. My best friend was on a friggin' missing poster. '_**STILL MISSING**_'. Alison DiLaurentis was still missing? I was never able to get over her disappearance. It still haunts me to this very day. My thoughts were invaded by a voice.

"You okay down there?" I head the man sitting two seats down from me ask. I looked at him and he had one of those boyish charmed smiles spread across his face.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit jet-lagged. I…just got back from being in Europe for a year." I replied to him, sending him the best half smile I could manage to pull.

"Where 'bout's in Europe were you?" He asked again, after taking a swig of his beer. I tapped my fingers on the table, again, giving him my half smile, trying to sound like I really wanted to talk to him, but in my head, I just wanted my damn cheeseburger. "Iceland," I replied to him.

"I spent some time visiting Reykjavik." He started, "It's a great city." He finished. I suddenly became interested in this man.

"So, do you got to Hollis?" It was my turn to ask some questions now. "Just graduated. I'm gunna be starting my first teaching job." He replied to me.

"Yeah, I think I'd like to teach." I told him. Suddenly, 'Happiness' by The Fray comes on and the music fills the bar. "B-26." He flirtatiously told me. I spun my head and looked at him suspiciously. He tried to hide his smile, but it failed miserably. "What's your…major?" He asked, trying to change the subject quickly. I smiled at him. _He's cute…_ I thought to myself before replying to his question.

"Uh, I'm-I'm leaning towards English," I started. "That's what I'm teaching!" He replied excitedly. We both smiled at each other. I couldn't help but laugh at how this encounter started.

"I write too, but so far it's mostly personal stuff. Just for me, I guess." I told him confidently.

"Wow, I'm impressed."

"Why?"

He scooted over to the seat beside me, bringing his beer and book with him. "Well, I tried writing, but I didn't get very far. You're really lucky. If you're writing for yourself, it's just pure passion. You do it, cause you love it." He sloshes his beer back and forth in his glass, "Maybe, you'd let me read some of yours?" He asks politely. I was surprised by his question. At first I was a bit hesitant, but then I thought _why not?_

"Really?"

"Yeah! I mean, you're smart, you've travelled…you've got a great taste in music, I'd like to know more about you." I smile as he says this. I was never one of those girls to get hit on all the time. But I had a feeling this guy was special. He was worth fighting for.

"Yeah, I'd like to know more about you too," I say to him.

We both smile at each other. From the moment we both smiled at each other, I knew this relationship would go somewhere. I didn't want to rush things too fast, but I couldn't help my feelings.

"If you would excuse me for a moment, I have to use the restroom."

"Can I come?" He asked out of the blue. For a moment, I hesitated. I didn't know what to think, I was only 17. But, I trusted my gut.

"Why not," I told him. He smiled brightly and followed me to the ladies room. We were careful not to drag attention to ourselves, so we tried to do it sneakily, but failed because we were laughing so hard. When we got to the bathroom, he lifted me on top of the counter and I was sitting with my legs wrapped around his back and resting on his hips. He was attacking my lips and the kiss was starting to get intense. He slipped his tongue out of his mouth and gently rolled it on my bottom lip, asking for entrance. I granted it to him by opening my mouth a bit more and he greatly accepted it by battling with my tongue. I knew that if we took this too far, things were going to get out of control. I pulled back from his mouth a couple minutes later. He looked at me, confusion written all over his face.

"Is something wrong? Did I hurt you?" he asked me worriedly.

I laughed at his sympathy, "No no, you didn't do anything wrong. I just want to stop this before things get too…_steamy_." I put emphasis on the word steamy, just to make his laugh, because I loved his laugh.

"I think you may be right." He said, laughing in between his words.

"Well, thanks for the chat and the _steamy _moment, but I better be off. I have to do some errands before I head home." I told him. I was just about to head out the bathroom door when I heard him yell to me.

"Hey, wait! I never caught your name," he began.

I pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from my bag and wrote him my number down and handed it to him. He looked at it and smiled to himself.

"See ya!" I told him.

"Bye, _Aria_." I heard him seductively call to me.

I smiled to myself as I left the bar. I paid the bartender before I left and said thanks to him.

On my way home, reality kicked in and hit me hard. He mentioned that he was going to be starting his first teaching job, but he didn't tell me what school. _What if he's my teacher?! _I asked myself.

_What have I gotten myself into.._


	2. If I Knew Then

Ezra.

"Wow…"

"Yeah dude, I can't even explain how I was feeling. At first I was, bewildered that I had met such a girl; but now…I'm over joyed that I just clicked with someone like her,"

I was explaining to my best friend – Hardy – how I had met Aria.

"Should I call her?" I asked him, taking a swig of my scotch. Even though Hardy was never good at giving advice about girls, but what was I supposed to do? Look up on the internet and search '_When is the right time to call a girl you just met?' _ That would just show that I had no experience with girls. Even though I had just gotten out of a marriage and having to deal with all the cancelations, I still have my charm.

"Man, I don't even know what to say right now. Did she tell you how old she was?" he asked me.

I didn't answer right away. I just stared blankly ahead and my mind raced. _No, she never did tell me how old she was…she only mentioned that was leaning towards an English major. Oh shit, what if she is still in high school?! What if I'm her teacher?! Shit, what have I gotten myself into!_

"Uh," I nervously cleared my throat before continuing, "uh, no she never mentioned her age. Why, what…uh, what are you thinking?" I asked him nervously. I was never good at hiding my nervousness around people.

"Calm down dude. I didn't mean anything by it. It was just a question man," he said to me. "Why are you so nervous?"

"Well…she might have, uh…mentioned that she was _leaning towards an English major…_I'm not sure if that means she's still in high school or still in college," I started to explain to him.

Hardy looked at me for a moment. I couldn't read his expression.

"When do you start teaching?" he asked me. I looked at him for a moment, trying to think why he would change the subject. "My first day is tomorrow. Rosewood High is where I'm teaching. Why?" I asked him, wondering where he was headed in the conversation.

"Don't call her and start blaming yourself, 'cause if you do, you'll just freak her out. If she really is in high school still, I guess you'll figure out tomorrow. I mean, what other high school is around here? None, and I don't think that she's going to be driving out to Philly to go to school." I smiled at him.

"Thanks man, I owe you one." I told him, giving him a kind smile before finished off my scotch.

"How 'bout you just buy me another beer and then you'll be off the hook," he told me, a devious smile creeping up on his face.

I laughed out loud and replied with a grin, looking to the bartender, "Can I have another round, sir?"

_The next day…_

"Hey Aria, you okay? You look kind of distracted," my friend Spencer asked me. My head whipped around and looked at her. "Wha- oh yeah, I'm good!" I clarified for her. Spencer just looked at me with one of her looks again. I just smiled and kept on walking to my locker.

As I was grabbing my English books, my mind kept on repeating the same questions over and over again; _What if he really is my teacher? What will everyone think of me? What will my parents think? Should I even tell them about it?_

"Aria, are you _sure _you're okay?" Emily asked me. She's always concerned about me when I don't talk for a while.

"Guys, don't worry! I just didn't get enough sleep last night," I told them. It wasn't _technically _a lie though; I was actually up a lot last night thinking about Ezra, but what they don't know won't hurt them.

"Alright…" Hanna jumped into the conversation. I smiled at them all and headed to our class. I took my normal seat; 2 down from the window seat.

"So, I heard the new teacher is _really _hot." Emily told me with a smirk. I chuckled lightly at her and sat down, opening my books. I grabbed a pen and wrote my name on the piece of paper. Suddenly, the new teacher came in. I didn't get a chance to see his face yet though. He was wearing a blue dress shirt and he had dark brown, curly hair. His writing wasn't all that neat, but you were still able to read it.'**Mr. Fitz**' the board read. The name had a single underline written beneath it. He slowly turned around and my heart started to race. He smiled and looked around the room and that's when our eyes met and I did a slight gasp. His smile disappeared completely and we just stayed there for what felt like hours, starring at each other. His eyes never left mine.

"Holy crap."

_Holy crap_ was right! I had made out with a teacher! Everyone turned around and looked directly at me. Some of them snickered, some of them gasped. Hanna smirked evilly. Spencer had a dumbfounded look written all over her face. And Emily, well she was just confused. If Alison was here, she would kill me.

My phone rang in the middle of all this. I jumped a bit and grabbed my bag, desperately searching for my phone. Hopefully it was my mom, asking me to come home and help unpack everything. "Sorry…"

He cleared his throat and began his speech.

"I'm, Mr. Fitz…your new English teacher," he began. I just shook my head and glanced down at my phone, his speech completely unnecessary to me right now.

_**Looks like he fools around with a lot of students…just ask you dad about that!**_

_**-A**_

"_Alison?" _I whispered quietly to myself. How could this be? She's been gone for a whole year now! It's basically the anniversary of her death, like it's some kind of party. I'm surprised Noel Kahn isn't even holding one for her. He's basically the headmaster of parties.

Once the class finished, which went by excruciatingly slow, _Mr. Fitz_ asked me if he could see me after class. I looked at my friends and told them I would be with them in a few minutes. I then looked at Ezra and slowly walked towards his desk. He walked over to the door and closed it.

"I thought you said you got your English major?" he asked desperately. As if he was hoping I was only there to help the students.

"I said, I was _leaning_ towards one," I told him carefully. He sighed deeply and looked down at his hands, fiddling with them. "Look, just because I'm your student, it doesn't change anything. I know that we don't know each other very well and I know that is wrong, but it doesn't feel wrong. When I met you, I didn't know what to expect. It's like I just fell for you right when our eyes met. It was a feeling I have never experienced before."

He looked at me, his gorgeous blue eyes seeping into my soul. I just want to fall into his arms and never leave them.

"But Aria, this isn't right. It's against the law!"

"Does it feel right to you?" I asked him desperately. He looked at me again and sighed.

"Yes."

"Then that's all that matters." I told him sweetly, taking his hand in mine.

He pulled his hand away from mine and I instantly felt like a knife had been stabbed in my back.

"I'm sorry, but we can't. I'm sorry," he said slowly to me, walking out the door.

I never knew what it meant when people said that their heart feels like it literally broke into pieces. But from that very moment, I finally understood what it meant and what it felt like. I sighed and walked back to my locker, tears about to fall.

"Aria! What was that all about?" Spencer asked, obviously confused.

"It was nothing, he just wanted to talk to me because my dad knows him from Hollis. Do you guys mind if I just go home, I don't really feel well. I'll call you though." I told them and they all nodded. I sent them a smile before heading out the door of the school.

**Thank you guys for the reviews! I will probably be updating every Saturday, just because I have school still. If you guys keep reviewing, I might update sooner! Thanks again!**


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